Glow
by Silverliqueur
Summary: ROMY. Gambit brings his daughter to the mansion, he meets Rogue, things lead on from there


DISCLAIMER: Nope, I don't own them either. Aren't you just dying from shock now. 

Anyway, this is my first fic. It will be a ROMY, no doubt about that, don't be put off by the opening lines. Basically Remy has a daughter who he leaves at the Xavier mansion, and in doing so he meets Rogue. I'm still not too sure what happens after that, but I'm working on it, feel free to offer suggestions. 

I can't write accents, but I didn't feel right about just making them speak normally. So Rogue says "Ah" and "ya" a lot, and Remy says the occasional French word. I'm afraid you'll have to use your imagination for the rest.

I wasn't sure which X-men universe to set this in at first, but I chose the movie because Remy hasn't been introduced yet (although his name did come up on the computer screen in X2) and Rogue is about the right age. 

Ok, here it is. 

**Chapter 1**

Three days ago the mother of his child had died giving birth to their daughter. Now Remy LeBeau stood by the open grave, watching as the wreath covered coffin was lowered in. 

"Au revoir Catrina," whispered Remy. A solitary tear slid down his face; it was a tear shed for the life that the eighteen-year-old would never get to experience, and for the child who would never know her mother…or her father. He had already stayed here too long, almost three weeks this time. Someone in his position could not afford to spend too much time in one place.

It was two years now since Remy LeBeau had fled from New Orleans. That was two years since he had killed Julian, his fiancé's brother, with the manifestation of his powers, and two years since his father had told him to leave the Thieves Guild and never return for his safety and theirs. The Assassins had never stopped looking for him, Belladonna had taken her brothers death as a personal insult and Remy dreaded what would happen if they ever found him. Of course he was more than capable of evading them and fighting them off if necessary, but he was afraid of what would happen to his daughter if they found out about her. 

The child was at the hospital. The doctors assured him that she would be fine, but he was terrified that he was going to lose her as well. He had been there with Catrina until the very end. She had died holding his hand, watching as he held their new-born baby with his other arm. He clearly recalled the tears sliding down her face making her cheeks glisten, until her eyes gently closed and her hand fell from his. In that moment before she died, Remy thought that she looked more beautiful than he had ever seen her before. Then she was gone, leaving him sitting in the silent hospital room hugging his sleeping daughter to him. 

Catrina had been so sweet and beautiful, Remy felt that he had failed her, her wished that he could have loved her like she deserved, but he couldn't even give her that. His daughter however, he had loved from the moment he saw her, She had been six weeks premature, and there had been so many complications with the delivery that the doctor had said it was a miracle either of them had survived. She had been so still and silent when she was born that Remy had feared she was dead, the doctors had rushed her out of the room and he and Catrina were left not knowing what was going on. When they brought her back wrapped in a white hospital blanket and screaming a few minutes later he felt more relief than he had ever known in his life. That was when he realised that he would do anything for her, but now he had to leave, to keep them both safe.

Standing on the other side of the grave from him, were Catrina's parents. Her mother, Rachel, was a stout, stern faced women of about forty-five, and her father, Steven, was a tall, grey haired man ten years her senior. They were both clinging on to each other, her mother ceasing her sobbing only to glare viciously at Remy, her father never stopped glaring at him. He didn't blame them for their apparent hate of him, he felt responsible, but he would never admit that to them. He needed to be civil and for them to be civil to him because they needed to discuss his daughter, she didn't even have a name yet. But, as soon as he tried to approach them after the funeral they made it clear that they wanted nothing to do with him. 

Remy headed back to Catrina's apartment where he had been staying to pack his bags, it was time for him to move on.

He couldn't leave without seeing her one more time. 

Remy walked in to the room where his daughter was being kept in an incubator, only to discover the doctors and Catrina's parents staring at the screaming baby. They looked up as Remy entered, "take off the sunglasses," snarled Catrina's father.

"Excusem moi, mon ami?" said Remy in surprise. 

"Take them off, now," his voice was cold and distinctly threatening, but Remy had no reason to be afraid, he was just curious. Then it suddenly dawned on him. 

He moved quickly across the room, pushing them aside to get a clear view of the baby. One of the doctors suddenly pushed him back, and before he knew what was happening Catrina's father had grabbed the sunglasses from his face.

"She's got your eyes. She's got your eyes, you mutant freak." Remy had rarely heard so much pure venom in anyone's voice; Catrina's mother was practically hissing the words. 

"Take her. Just take her and get out of here," said the father. Remy stared in disbelief.

"But da bebe barely four days old, can she even leave the hospital yet?" he asked looking towards the doctors.

"It's not this hospitals policy to treat mutants," said on of the doctors harshly. The other one had the decency to look a little ashamed, but didn't seem about to offer any support, so Remy turned to Catrina's mother.

"Dis bebe be your granddaughter, she could die if she's thrown out now, are you going to let that happen?"

"That little monster killed my daughter. If you don't get her out of my sight right now she won't live to see the morning."

Remy gently picked up the crying baby and wrapped her in the blankets she was lying on, then he turned and walked out of the room, stopping briefly at the doorway to turn back and look at them. "I'm glad that Catrina didn't live to see this," he said bitterly, then he was gone. 

A nurse ran up to him as he was about to step into the lift, her eyes were red as if she had been crying. 

"Wait. Please wait. There are things she needs." Remy stopped to look at her. "I heard what they said, I can give you some things she will need." Remy nodded and followed her into a side room. 

"I saw her eyes before the doctors did, I was hoping that they wouldn't notice. Sometimes I think that there's no hope for humanity, I can't believe that they would be willing to let a little baby die, no matter what their opinions on mutants. But she'll survive, she's strong, maybe it's one of her powers." She paused, "Have you got anywhere to go?" Remy shook his head. "Take her here," said the nurse writing down an address for him, "they've got good medical facilities, they'll be able to look after her." 

Remy thanked her and walked out the hospital with a bag full of medication, baby wipes and formula. 

It was three in the morning and Rogue was sitting at her desk, trying to concentrate on her biology homework. She had spent the whole of the evening with Bobby, even though she knew she had work to do, and this late night, or was it early morning, homework session was her self-inflicted punishment. It was practically impossible to get away with not doing homework when you lived in a boarding school with your teachers, they know that you have the time and their not exactly hard to find if you need help. However, Ororo would hardly appreciate being woken up at this time in the morning and Rogue's sleep deprived brain was finding the work hard to deal with. Maybe it was time to admit defeat and go to sleep. No, she just needed something to wake her up, that was all. 

Rogue got up and put on her robe and gloves, then she slipped out of her room and quietly made her way down to the kitchen. It wasn't uncommon for people to be up late at night, but it was frowned upon on school days, so Rogue tried to be as quiet as possible and avoided switching on any lights. She was almost to the kitchen when she suddenly had the feeling that someone was behind her, spinning round she saw the dark outline of a tall figure standing a few feet away from her.

"Wh-who are ya," she asked scared that she didn't recognise the person.

"Don't worry chere, I'm not here to hurt you. I just heard that there are good medical facilities here, is that true?" Rogue nodded. "And will Xavier taken on a new mutant?" she nodded again. "Then there is someone I need to leave here." For the first time Rogue noticed that the man was holding something in his arms, he held it out to her. "De bebe's nom est Amelie Catrina."

Rogue recoiled and took a few steps back. "Ah can't! Ah mean - Ah can't touch her, it's ma skin, my mutation, Ah can't touch people." 

"You can't ever touch!"

"No, no skin on skin contact."

They stood watching each other for a moment, considering what to do next. "Ah'll get someone," said Rogue and she started to walk back towards the stairs.

"Non chere, wait! No one can know dat I'm here." He moved to block off her route to the stairs.

"Well ya not doing a very good job of it. Ah certainly know ya here, and Ah'm sure the professor does by now, and probably Logan as well." Rogue raised her voice to make her point.

"Sssshhhhhhh chere, you'll wake de bebe."

"Ah'm not your chere!" she hissed

"Den what is your name?"

"Will you tell me yours?"

"But dat would take away the mystery, chere."

"Ah don't see any mystery, Ah just see some guy in a trench coat who doesn't know what the hell he's talkin' about. Ya should always check out a place before ya break in sugar, never know who ya gonna come across." 

That's when Wolverine leapt out of the shadows thinking to take the stranger by surprise. Remy, however, was ready for him. With his free hand, he unleashed a cascade of charged cards, which blew Logan back a good few feet. Then he ran and was out of sight within seconds, this was not a problem for Logan who could track him by scent just as easily as by sight. The shorter man was back on his feet almost instantly, his claws slid out from his knuckles making the familiar SKNIKT sound, and then he too was gone. Rogue found herself standing alone in the hallway unsure what to do.

Cautiously, she wondered down the hallway following the direction in which they had gone. She briefly considered waking up one of the others but it seemed unnecessary considering that the Prof. probably already knew. There was no sign of anyone, but the corridor was so dark that she doubted she could have seen anyone if they weren't moving. She felt her way down the hall to the light switch and put out her hand to turn it on.

Suddenly, there was a hand stopping her outstretched arm in mid-air and another one over her mouth to stifle her screams. She struggled briefly, and she heard something fall to the floor.

"S'okay chere. Don't struggle," his voice whispered in her ear.

"You don't listen do ya. Ah told ya about my powers, do ya know what would happen if your skin touched mine? Ah'd drain ya: your powers, your memories, your consciousness, and if Ah hold on long enough ah could kill you. It hurts like hell."

"But you don't want to do dat do you chere?"

"No. Ya know why? Because every person Ah've eva drained is stored in ma head, just a little piece of them, a little voice that just keeps on screaming and shouting and won't eva shut up. Ah don't want to spend the rest of my life with you inside my head, that's why Ah don't want ta absorb ya Cajun. But that doesn't mean Ah won't." Her voice was bitter with a dangerous edge.

"What's your name chere?"

"Tell me yours and I'll tell ya mine." It was a childish response, but Rogue felt it summed up the situation nicely.

Remy was enjoying himself immensely, but he had more important things to do than hold on to a beautiful girl. "I came here for a reason, dat bebe, she need medical attention. They threw her out of the hospital because she's a mutant this place is my last hope. Can you see she gets what she needs chere?"

"Is she yours?"

A pause.

"Oui."

"Then why are ya leaving her, why are ya going?"

"Because it's not safe chere. No one knows I have a daughter, and it has to stay that way. I need to keep moving or they'll find me, they'll have everyone looking for me by now. I have to leave her, she's only five days old, she was six weeks premature, she needs good doctors."

"I'll look after her."

"Merci, chere."

A sigh of defeat.

"Ma name's Rogue."

"Rogue," she loved the way he said her name, the way he tested every syllable as he pronounced it. "Your quite mysterious yourself, chere."

"Ya know my name now, there's no need ta call me chere." Rogue pulled herself out of his hold, which was now more of an embrace now than a form of restraint, and turned to face him. She gasped silently at the sight that greeted her. His eyes were red, a beautiful, glowing sort of red, they were the only thing visible in the oppressive darkness, and Rogue found them almost hypnotic. 

"Their kind of distinctive, non?" his voice was light, but Rogue could tell there was more behind the words. Before she could stop herself, she reached forward and touched her fingers to his face.

"Their beautiful," she said breathely. 

"So are you," he whispered back. They stared at each other for a seemingly endless moment.

"Right, that's enough!" Wolverine's commanding voice shattered the moment. Rogue shook her head to clear it, feeling as though she was being released from a spell.

"Cajun, if you don't want to be seen then leave now. We'll keep the baby. Where is it?"

Remy bent and picked up his sleeping daughter, kissing her lightly on the head before holding her out to Rogue. She shook she head, indicating her bare upper arms, although she has no way of knowing that Remy could see her.

"I'll take her. Hand over the baby Cajun."

"Au revouir ma petite fille," he whispered before handing the baby to Wolverine and turning to flee from the institute.


End file.
